About Sustainability...

How is Pleat and Bobbin sustainable and eco-friendly?

Handmade doesn’t necessarily mean sustainable or eco-friendly.

As a professional sewer for 10 years I know that the fabric we use has a huge impact on how kind our product is to the plant.   Where has the fabric come from, what resources did it use, how much waste was produced, how were the pickers and factory workers paid and treated in production of the fabric and growing of the fibres?  Etc, etc, etc…..

So here’s what I’m doing:

Up-cycled fabrics:  All of my printed fabrics are up-cycled from curtains.  Using pre-loved fabric means that a) I’m not using anything new and so no extra waste or resources were consumed  and b) something that was unwanted and unused has now been saved from the bin.

Using our scraps and offcuts: I save all of my scraps and offcuts.  The tiny ones are set aside for future projects.  The big ones are used to make bibs, wipes and breast/chest feeding pads.

Factory ends and offcuts: The denim that I use is from factory clearance, which means that it was fabric left-over from factory production and was not sold or was un-wanted.

Encouraging reusables:  I cloth bummed my daughter and saved a ton of disposable nappies.  I also used reusable wipes for nappy changes and reusable pads while breastfeeding.  As a result I size all baby and toddler clothes to be cloth nappy compatible, and sell reusables to promote less waste.

Made to last: The baby clothes business is such a huge part of the fast fashion industry.  So I make everything with longevity in mind.  If it doesn’t wear out then it can be handed down, passed on, donated, resold on Vinted, etc and have new life with a new wearer.